Wrestling coach speaks on girls wrestling team progress
“Both of my daughters wrestle,” said St. Marys Lady Riders Wrestling Head Coach Jody Poff, of why he took the position. Poff’s passion for the sport of wrestling, and for girls wrestling especially, emanates from him as he speaks about his team. Poff said his daughter Jada was interested in wrestling, and has been wrestling most of this year.
“She did well, but had to wrestle against boys, but trust me, she placed in every tournament,” said Poff. Wrestling against boys though, is something that Poff sees coming to an end, and something he believes St. Marys needs to stay ahead of the curve on.
“This is the first year that St. Marys has had a girls wrestling program, its a brand new program,” said Poff. He pointed out that while girls have been wrestling for decades, there has never been an equal playing field.
“If they wanted to wrestle, they always had to wrestle guys. Now, they’re finally starting to get an even playing field where they’re starting to have girls’ tournaments,” explained Poff. He said that this year was the first year the Ohio Athletic Committee (OAC) has held an all girls wrestling tournament.
“Even the high school level, Ohio High School Athletic Association had their first recognized girls added to the high school state program,” said Poff before continuing. “It’s becoming really big and I know that the OAC had over 350 girls that wrestled.”
Poff said that while seeing the state tournaments coming to be is a good thing, that he wants to continue to see continued growth.
“We want to grow women’s wrestling big time. We’re trying to stay ahead of the curve and not chase it,” said Poff. He said that wrestling may eventually lead his wrestlers to bigger opportunities as well. “I’m telling you, they can achieve scholarships. There are womens wrestling programs in college for girls. If we don’t recognize this and take off with this, we’re holding them back from a chance at a scholarship.”
The coach explained that the boy wrestlers are also supportive of the girls and what they want to do.
“The support has been there, even when the girls started we were mixing practices. Girls with middle school boys, and they were accepting,” said Poff. He said that when he took over though, he pulled the girls to their own practices so that he could work more closely on their skills, while they worked against other girls.
“I pulled the girls away so we could practice on our own, and get one on one attention which is what they need and deserve,” said Poff before continuing. “For the most part the boys have been supportive, they cheer on the girls as much as they cheer on the boys.”
Poff said that he also understand that some people may not support the idea of their girls wrestling.
“Some people might not want girls wrestling, and thats fine, but give them the place they can. Just because you don’t want them to, doesn’t mean they’re not going to,” said Poff. He pointed out that when girls get to high school, they’re going to need to be able to go against other girls.
“These other schools have full teams and show up with 30-40 girls and win with ease, because no one can compete with their stats,” said Poff. The coach said he knows that St. Marys is up to that challenge. “We have girls in this town and we can do it, we can build the team.”
Currently the St. Marys Lady Riders Wrestling team consists of girls in second grade tall the way up to freshmen in high school. The two freshmen on the team are a part of the St. Marys Memorial High School Wrestling team, as well as the Lady Riders Wrestling team, which is a club. Being a club is something that Poff also wants to see changed, and something that he sees as a benefit to the school, should the school start a program for girls who want to wrestle. As for the girls themselves, they also had a lot to say.
Jada Poff, a second grader who placed 4th in the state said that she got started because of her dad, and that she ended up liking it.
“I like that it gets me stronger and that I can earn medals,” said Jada Poff. She said that she is proud of where she placed, and that she likes wrestling. “I don’t like wrestling boys, they’re nasty. I’d rather wrestle girls.”
Rosaline Case is an 8th grader and said that she was initially forced into wrestling, but found something she enjoys.
“It’s pretty nice actually, I didn’t think I’d like it as much as I do,” she said before continuing. “I didn’t think I’d get as far as I did, I’ve went to state and finished fifth this year, which was quite a surprise.”
She said that being on the team means working hard, doing your best, and trying to do everything to ensure a win.
“I would like to continue wrestling, but I don’t think I’d like to in college. In college I want to be a zoologist,” said Case.
For seventh grader Iris Case, her mom saw the team advertised online, and thought it would be good for her daughter.
“This year has been really great, I’m proud, because we accomplished so much in one year,” said Case. I asked her what she would tell a girl who thinks poorly of wrestling, or that it isn’t something that they’d want to do. “I’d try to convince them that it isn’t as bad as they think. I would explain to them that you can wrestle boys if you want, but we mostly try to wrestle other girls.”
Eighth grader Kairi Williams said that she wanted to wrestle because she watched her brothers wrestle, and had always wanted to.
“I want to learn to be able to work with people even if I’m out there alone. I want to work with people off the mat and be able to work with people in general,” said Williams. Williams said that no matter what happens on the mat, that there is always a common thread amongst her teammates.
“This builds more team character because you can go on the mat alone, but when you get off the mat, you’re still a team, and your’e going to cheer on others,” said Williams.
For high schoolers Ameliah Serio and Riley Anderson, wrestling is something that brings a sense of community.
“Everyone is friends with everyone, and there is never a bad time,” said Serio.
“I would say I like the environment too, and its fun to do,” said Anderson.
“Wrestling is not what they think, especially girls wrestling,” said Serio then continued, “They think its manhandling each other, groping each other, but I really just want to tell them that it is not like that, and that they’ll never know what its like until they try it.”